Florida bans Pterois lionfish imports

[Dmorty217]

Starting August 1, 2014 the import of Pterois lionfish to Florida will be banned. In the same vote those using rebreathers are deemed approved to harvest and posses lionfish, and the executive director of FFW can issue special permits for spear fishing gear in areas it's prohibited to remove lionfish and other nonnative invasive species via Coral magazine

[buffalo123]

Wonder why It would be prohibitive to remove invasive species in the first place?

[xrayjeeper83]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

Starting August 1, 2014 the import of Pterois lionfish to Florida will be banned. In the same vote those using rebreathers are deemed approved to harvest and posses lionfish, and the executive director of FFW can issue special permits for spear fishing gear in areas it's prohibited to remove lionfish and other nonnative invasive species via Coral magazine

this is the first time ive heard its just pterios, I had heard it was all. I'm glad its not cause I want to do a dwarf lion tank

[anbosu]

Originally Posted by buffalo123

Wonder why It would be prohibitive to remove invasive species in the first place?

I believe they are referring to marine sanctuaries where normally you couldn't spearfish at all.

[m0nkie]

good news it's not Cali... better get moving on setting up the lion fish tank

[AcroporAddict]

Too little too late. Why bother to ban them? They are already established.

[listen2bob]

And now that they are banned for import, we can begin the export out of the state

[phillrodrigo]

The part I rselly don't get is that we pull lots of them out of oceans around the world. Then we sell the to marine aquarist for up to $100 a fish (not sure what it is anymore but was that when I got mine ten years ago). Why not sell them to wholesalers with the ban in flordia. Kind of like fire works in Pennsylvania you can buy them as long as your not a Pennsylvania resident. I just hate to see so many killed and at the same time pulling them from other areas were they are normally from. They are my favorite fish

[anbosu]

Florida lion fish are for sale Phil. In the future I hope most lion fish for sale in the us are from down hetr

[phillrodrigo]

But I see so many you tube videos of people killing them or feeding them to other fish.

[Dmorty217]

They are all over Florida and they are also all over in the Bahamas. I was on a cruise 7-8 yrs ago and went to a small island owned by Royal Caribbean and went snorkeling, and what do you think I saw out of place in the water there?

[Ohioreefer7]

I read that they only banned one genus of lionfish. The dwarf lionfish genus was not banned however. I think that both of them should have been banned because the dwarf lionfish is probably even worse than the regular ones. They hide more and are better camouflaged. Also when I went diving in Indonesia there were a lot more dwarf lionfish than the regular ones meaning they might be even more successful than the regular ones.

[pyithar]

where i live, i could get the Pterois volitans for the price of usd 6 a piece from the local fishermen(from andaman sea).

[jarrod13]

Originally Posted by Ohioreefer7

I read that they only banned one genus of lionfish. The dwarf lionfish genus was not banned however. I think that both of them should have been banned because the dwarf lionfish is probably even worse than the regular ones. They hide more and are better camouflaged. Also when I went diving in Indonesia there were a lot more dwarf lionfish than the regular ones meaning they might be even more successful than the regular ones.

I see your point but the dwarf species would not have nearly the same affect on the ecosystem that the volitans are, even though they eat fish they don't eat nearly as many or as big. A full grown volitans can eat a rather large fish, where as a dwarf species like a fuzzy can only eat something MAYBE half the size.

[Spyderturbo007]

I saw this today and thought it was a pretty interesting discovery by a young girl doing her science project on Lionfish.

[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by Spyderturbo007

I saw this today and thought it was a pretty interesting discovery by a young girl doing her science project on Lionfish.

Wow found in rivers... Does anyone know the salinity in the river there? I would be interested to know what they can live in. Nice 6th grade science project... To think if my dad would of been a marine biologist

[anbosu]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

Wow found in rivers... Does anyone know the salinity in the river there? I would be interested to know what they can live in. Nice 6th grade science project... To think if my dad would of been a marine biologist

It depends on the tides and I would imagine a whole host of other variables, but any coastal river in Florida is going to have tons of saltwater fish in it. When I took my dive certification classes in Crystal River there were tons of mangrove snappers hanging out.

[GreshamH]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

Wow found in rivers... Does anyone know the salinity in the river there? I would be interested to know what they can live in. Nice 6th grade science project... To think if my dad would of been a marine biologist

Her data is published and the salinity they go down to is noted.

[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by anbosu

It depends on the tides and I would imagine a whole host of other variables, but any coastal river in Florida is going to have tons of saltwater fish in it. When I took my dive certification classes in Crystal River there were tons of mangrove snappers hanging out.

I know bull sharks have been found hundreds of miles up rivers before but I was unaware that outside of the brackish zone that any saltwater fish were present, at least for extended periods of time

[Spiffy]

Lionfish never really appealed to me. Too predatory, and they even look intimidating to me. With a certain... "exotic" look. Like a woman from another country. Lol! And furthermore, I hear that they are a problem in some places.